Here’s a slightly different and more rustic way of eating Brussels sprouts. The Dutch way, so to speak. Definitely my way. Pretty straightforward cooking, no frills, nothing fancy, just food as it was meant to be.

We like to mash our vegetables in with our potatoes and call it stamppot. Gives you a lot of options to boost the flavor. Now I’m blessed with a son whose favorite vegetable happens to be Brussels sprouts—I guess he wasn’t swapped at the hospital after all—so this is a regular dish at our house. I found that kids are more likely to eat their vegetables when they’re mashed in with the potatoes, so give it a try if you have picky eaters. Who knows… they might like it.

Wash the Brussels sprouts. Slice off the stem and remove the outer leaves. Cut the bigger ones in half and leave smaller ones whole.

Finely chop the onion. You could also add some finely minced red bell pepper for a little extra flavor. You’re the boss.

Usually I just grab Boursin—a Dutch herbed cream cheese—and melt that in with the milk. This time I tweaked 7oz low fat cream cheese with 1/2 a tsp Lawry’s garlic salt and 1/2 a tsp garlic pepper.

Normally I like Brussels sprouts with a little bite to them, but not in a hodgepodge. God, I love that word, hodgepodge. Mix the potatoes and sprouts, add 1 garlic clove, salt and enough water to submerge the potatoes and sprouts.

Boil the potatoes and vegetables until tender. This will take about 20 minutes.

Sautee the onions in some butter until soft. It’s okay for them to brown a little. Add 1/4 tsp curry powder and cook for an additional 30 seconds—no longer or the curry powder might go bitter on you.

To me a stamppot is inextricably connected to bacon bits. Real bacon bits, mind you. None of that fake stuff, you hear me!

Pour the milk in with the onions and let the cream cheese melt in there as well. I’ve added a sprinkle of the new Lawry’s 17 seasonings, man, that stuff is addictive. What also works beautifully is adding a little coarse mustard. Gives a nice tang.

As soon as the potatoes are done, drain them and mash them. I like to leave a little structure in there but you can also completely hide the vegetables.

Stir the onion and cream mix in with the potatoes and check the seasoning.

This is so good with bacon and gravy, down to the very last bite. How can people not like Brussels sprouts? *shakes head in total disbelief*

Do the brussel sprouts get bitter in this recipe, like they quickly tend to do if you cook them for too long – whatever too long is, I didn’t figure that out as of yet, or do they keep their “milder” flavor? I’d like to try this, but… as I don’t like the taste of pure coffee (too bitter, drinking lots of milk with some sort of syrup and a little bit of coffee for color and flavor), tea that was brewed with way too hot water (again, bitter) and many, many bitter greens in salads, I’m on the cautious side here.

The only way I found brussel sprouts to be close to tolerable was quickly sauteed with bacon and then drowned in balsamic vinegar…

I love stamppot! I hadn’t thought of doing it with brussels sprouts. I’ve have to give that a try soon. I usually just roast or pan fry brussels sprouts with olive oil and a bit of lemon or lime juice. Lekker!

My husband & son won’t touch a brussel sprout. But I’m going to try the sneaking them in to the potato trick like you say. I on the other hand, I love them. Bacon & sauteed onion with them are my favorite way. But this looks divine…anything with cream cheese is right up my alley!

this recipe is perfect timing, my husband is literally in the air flying home from Holland right now and I think I am gonna try this out on him. There are not a lot of his favorite dutch recipes that translate well to American ingredients but I think this one will be the one! Now, if I could figure out how to make my MIL’s homemade tomato soup with little meatballs! (she also makes a green salad with tunafish in it too that I want to make here but cannot find the recipe!)

I put cabbage in my mashed potatoes w/bacon bits all the time for a cheater’s version of colcannon. I don’t know why I never thought of doing it with other vegetables, too! This is a great idea, and the doctored cream cheese looks very versatile, too. Thanks for this, I’m going to give it a try!

I fell in love with “stampot” last year after learning about it here! I usually do a variation of your Curly Endive Mash.

But, re Jiny’s comment about the bitter part of brussel sprouts, I found a recipe online – 60 second brussel sprouts. More slice and dice up front, 60 second saute in olive oil and lemon juice. THEN, I put them in the mash – usually a mix of red potatoes, celery root (another thing to thank YOU for introducing me to), red bell pepper, sweet onions and cheese at the mashing stage, i.e. don’t boil them with.

Similarly, I don’t cook Kale before I throw it in the mash – can’t remember if you do….I chop it fairly fine. The heat from the mash softens it a bit and you get a bit more benefit from the nearly raw veg.

YUM! I just ADORE brussels sprouts! A matter of fact, I found a bag of single serve microwave pouches (4 in the bag) at the store for only .99 cents! I should have cleared the shelves at that price; I just didn’t know how good they would be like that. My one daughter shares my enthusiasm for the little jewels, but hubby and elder daughter do NOT. Ah well. Their loss; our gain, right!?? hehe! Will definitely try this! Maybe it will bring them over to our side!